


Breaking Point

by a_dot_burr_ell



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Post 1 X 14, pre-supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 08:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6072199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_dot_burr_ell/pseuds/a_dot_burr_ell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara's life has been falling apart for weeks but she's finally reached her breaking point. Cat decides to reach out at the wrong time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

> The Supercat preview broke my heart and I write this little thing to fix it. Hopefully you all will enjoy it.

Kara stormed up the stairs, too angry to wait and use the elevator. Opening the stairwell door took a bit more force than usual, she’d been having trouble gauging her powers this morning, the exhaustion from her last fight catching up to her.

Non’s plans against National City had come to a head less than twenty-four hours ago and it had taken a grueling night of fighting to beat him back. Once she’d been debriefed at the DEO, she’d gotten less sleep than was ideal and the overcast skies were doing little to replenish her strength this morning. Couple that with the fact that Kara had come in into the office to see Cat and Siobhan sharing a carafe of coffee in Cat’s office – the two of them laughing like they were old friends – and Kara was ready to explode.

Two weeks she’d spent walking around the office while Cat flaunted her new assistant, serving as a constant reminder that she had been demoted, listening to Cat refer to her as assistant number two while she called Siobhan by name – the correct name, at that – reminding Kara that she was unnecessary and unwanted. She had struggled to leave CatCo as the last place that was untouched by her double life and even that had been taken from her now, her relationship with Cat made worse from whatever J’onn had done when he masqueraded as her in her absence.

Even now, she couldn’t get a full summary of what he’d done to ruin her job but whatever he’d done had damaged her relationship with Cat even further than the dating debacle and now she was worried that things between her and Cat would never be the same. While she logically knew that J’onn had been trying to help her, there was a small part of her that blamed him. He’d killed Astra, had he really needed to take her job from her, too? Kara turned the corner, ready to enter the one place at CatCo that would still be untouched when she saw it.

_New office for CatCo Marketing Director._

Heart pounding in her chest, Kara tried the handle only to find it locked. She gripped the handle of the door relentlessly, trying to crush it in her grip but all she managed to do was dent the metal. Cursing her impending loss of powers, Kara threw her shoulder into the door with as much strength as she could and smashed her way into the room, hardly caring that the doorframe cracked or that the door swung crooked now.

The room had been robbed of all of Winn’s computers, a tarp thrown over their couch, and all of the fixtures in the room stripped down to the wires. Cans of paint were stacked in one corner of the room and a new mahogany desk sat in the corner. There was no trace left of the sanctuary her friends had built for her, everything was gone.

“No!” Kara cried, feeling unable to hold herself together any longer.

She felt the anger well up inside her, the exhaustion, the rejection. Kara didn’t hold back when her vision tunneled and her heat vision activated. She sliced through the desk, hearing it cave in on itself and collapse. Her vision began to flicker and she tore her eyes away from the ruined desk, hearing the plaster of the wall and ceiling crack before her powers officially gave out, causing her to drop to her knees. Kara felt drained, her anger dissolving into tears, so she sat in the middle of the ruined office and cried.

* * *

Thirteen days. That was how long it had taken Kara to meet her breaking point. Cat could tell they were there because she’d seen Kara angrily throw her latte in the trash and storm off. It should have been a triumphant moment – this was the entire reason Cat had hired Siobhan, after all – but all Cat felt was the beginnings of guilt.

Without realizing what she was doing, Cat put down her cup of coffee and turned to Siobhan. “I’ll be right back.”

Siobhan answered but Cat was already out the door, watching Kara’s retreating back as she headed for the stairwell. Cat had expected Kara to rush immediately to James Olsen’s office, or even escape to the restroom but Cat couldn’t gauge where Kara was headed to. She followed her into the stairwell, staying a good distance behind her while still keeping the girl insight.

Two flights up, Cat watched as Kara turned the corner to head to the previously empty office Cat had assigned to the new marketing director, her mind recalling that maintenance had mentioned finding extra computers inside the room. There was a loud thud and a cracking noise and Cat sped up, wondering what the girl was doing making that racket. Coming around the corner, Cat saw that Kara had forced her way into the room with so much force that the doorframe had been damaged and the door was hanging crookedly.

Cat felt anger flare up inside of her. What was Kara thinking damaging CatCo property like that? With half a mind to fire her when she opened the door, Cat stilled when she grabbed the door handle and felt that the metal had been warped. Looking down, Cat saw the imprint of a hang in the damaged metal, feeling her pulse quicken. There was no way that Kara was strong enough to cause this amount of damage, unless…

Cat pushed the broken door open, her mouth dropping open when she took in the scene. A large desk in the corner of the room was in a heap, the smell of burnt wood saturating the air, and in the middle of it all stood Kara, eyes shooting concentrated bursts of energy around the room. As she watched, Kara collapsed to the floor and Cat heard the girl begin to cry.

So many things fell into place for Cat. Other than her original assumptions that Kara had been Supergirl, she could now explain away the instance where Supergirl and Kara had stood into the same room. After all, hadn't Kara said it herself when the Bizarro incident had occurred?

_Maybe it isn't even Supergirl at all._

Suddenly, Cat was remembering the last couple of weeks in a new light. Telling Kara that she was selfish, the dire fights that Cat had reported on herself in the last few weeks, a stray comment that she’d picked up from Kara’s little IT friend about the death of an aunt. The feeling of guilt Cat had been feeling in her office was back.

Kara let out a particularly miserable sob and Cat took a tentative step forward into the room. “Kara.”

“Ms. Grant!” Kara gasped, jumping to her feet and swaying. Cat stepped forward to steady her but Kara flinched and Cat stayed where she was. “Uh, I was just-. There’s a fire-.”

“Stop.” Cat interrupted her, watching as Kara’s mouth snapped shut. “I saw you.”

Panic flooded Kara’s eyes. “Ms. Grant, I…” Kara trailed off and sighed, defeat coloring her features.

“We’ll talk about how you achieved that stunt with the second Supergirl, as well as the destruction to CatCo property, later.” Cat started and Kara’s head lowered guiltily.

Cat couldn't help taking a small bit of pleasure from the gesture; the girl should feel guilty for lying to her. Kara sniffled again and that's when Cat looked at her, really looked at her for the first time in weeks - her glasses hid dark bags beneath her eyes, she was pale, her hands shaking - she looked worse than Cat had ever seen her. “But right now you look extremely pale and there's a mountain of food and coffee in my office that I bet will help with that.”

“I'm sorry.” Kara whispered, her voice cracking. She sounded very small and Cat couldn't get her head around the fact that this was the same person who put herself in danger to save people everyday.

“There's been a lot going on that I don't know about, hasn't there?” Cat asked, purposely making her voice gentle.

Kara nodded and tears filled her eyes again. “I didn't mean-.”

“We’ll talk about it in my office. But first, can't you put that out?” Cat asked, pointing to the tangled mess of wood that was still smoking. Kara looked at her in confusion and Cat elaborated. “Don't you have some sort of ice breath?”

Understanding crossed Kara’s face. “I can't.” She mumbled.

“You can't?” Cat asked, not following. Didn't they just establish who she was?

“That was… That was the last of it. I won't be able to _do_ anything else for a couple of days.” Kara swallowed thickly. It was obviously hard for Kara admit anything to her. “Power outage.”

“Like the day of the earthquake.” Cat said slowly, remembering.

Kara nodded. “They’ll come back in a couple of days.”

Cat’s eyes narrowed. A couple of days - she could wait that long to let Kara have it for lying to her. Because right now Kara looked like one wrong word could push her over the edge again and, after everything Cat had done to contribute to her current state, Cat probably owed her a few days reprieve.

“Okay, let's go.” Cat sighed, reaching out and wrapping one hand around Kara’s arm.

“Go?” Kara asked as Cat pulled her from the room.

“We're going to my office. Hero or not, we still have work to do.” Cat said, steering Kara to the elevator. “Don't worry, we’ll have maintenance clean that up later.”

“But-.” Kara started, obviously confused by Cat’s accepting demeanor.

“We're not done talking about this, not by a long shot.” Cat said firmly, pressing the call button for the elevator. Kara fidgeted in her grip. “But the last time this happened, I let you out of my sight and you came back with a broken arm. I'm not having that happen again.”

“So, I'm not fired?” Kara asked nervously as they stepped into the elevator.

Cat’s mind flashed back to when Supergirl had saved her from her free falling elevator. “Not today. Now, cheer up, Kiera. If you don't like the food in my office we can send away for anything you're craving.”

Cat felt the tension leave Kara’s body at the mention of her usual monicker, another reminder of how cruel Cat had been referring to her as ‘number two’ for the last few weeks if even the sound of her mispronounced name was an improvement. Cat chances a glance at Kara’s face and saw a small smile playing at her lips.

“What if what I want is really far away?” Kara asked quietly.

Cat smirked. “We can send Shelly all the way to Central City, if you like.” Cat’s smile widened when Kara laughed, and she decided that two assistants really was overkill - she’d have to find a quiet moment to fire Siobhan later.


End file.
